Projects & Programs View

Seismic

Planning for resilience

The safety of our students, faculty, and staff is UBC’s first priority. Since 1994, UBC has been actively working with external engineering partners to assess, plan, and improve the Vancouver campus in preparation for a major seismic event.

Since 2012, UBC has invested over $200 million in seismic upgrades. During this time there have been significant new scientific developments — including the increased understanding of the active faults in the Pacific Northwest — as well as a number of global earthquakes that have revealed previously unknown building deficiencies resulting in new, enhanced building codes. Along with this evolution of seismic science, best practice thinking around resilience, risk assessment, and the ability of a major public institution like UBC to respond to a natural disaster like an earthquake has evolved. Bringing the plan to a level that reflects this best practice is a primary consideration.

Seismic projects

Seismic projects, retrofits, and rebuilds are ongoing on the UBC Point Grey campus. Below are a few of the projects that are ongoing or have recently been completed:

Jack Bell Building for the School of Social Work

In construction

The project will mitigate deferred maintenance and seismically upgrade the building, while also reconfiguring its existing spaces to support state-of-the-art learning and teaching environments.

Anthropology and Sociology (ANSO) Renewal

In design

The project includes seismic, code, fire, mechanical and electrical upgrades as well as the reconfiguration of the interior to support programming.

Douglas T. Kenny Building Phase Seismic Upgrades

In design

The next phase of seismic upgrades for the building are in design. Previous upgrades to L1-L3 have been completed.

UNY Substation Renewal

Completed in 2023

This renewal of the UNY Substation completed several structural upgrades to improve the station’s post-earthquake resilience.

Macleod Building Renewal

Completed in 2022

This building renewal was structurally designed to achieve a high resilience level of Immediate Occupancy after a major earthquake event.

New Water Pump Station

Completed in 2021

This station reduced the campus’ vulnerability in regards to water outages post-earthquake and increased water pressure in the academic core to aid fire fighting.

Hebb Building Renewal

Completed in 2019

This renewal was a full seismic upgrade of the existing six-story Physics and Astronomy Building as well as a refresh of interior spaces.

2025

Campus-wide seismic risk analysis update: In progress
- Seismic Steering Committee provides oversight of the overall initiative
Museum of Anthropology Great Hall Renewal: Landscape completion anticipated for Summer 2025
Jack Bell Renewal: In construction, target completion November 2025
Anthropology and Sociology (ANSO) Building Renewal: In design stage
HR MacMillan Building lobby balcony: Design start
Douglas T. Kenny Building next phase seismic upgrades: Design start

2024

Update to Seismic Ground Motions (Risk analysis data)
Museum of Anthropology Great Hall Renewal: Completed, museum re-opened in June 2024
Powerhouse Expansion: Demolition complete
Jack Bell Renewal: Construction start
Anthropology and Sociology (ANSO) Building Renewal: Design start

2023

Refining the seismic Redi guidelines
UNY substation: Structural upgrades completed
Museum of Anthropology Great Hall Renewal: Under construction

2022

Douglas T. Kenny Building: L1-L3 Seismic upgrades completed
Implementation of seismic guidelines on the MacLeod Building Renewal and Jack Bell Building for the School of Social Work Renewal
Macleod Building Renewal construction completion: Pilot Project for Redi Guideline updates
Jack Bell Renewal: Design started
Executing the recommendations laid out in the 2019 ARUP report
Read the 2022 Board of Governors Report

2021

Executing the recommendations laid out in the 2019 ARUP report
Working with ARUP on the following Seismic guidelines:

Seismic Real Estate Framework and Roadmap to Resilience
- This guideline establishes a vision for seismic resilience on the UBC Point Grey campus
- This will serve as a guide to help leaders, decision makers, and planners, as the campus develops to plan for resiliency for our buildings and spaces.
- Establishes objectives, goals, and objectives that set the framework for Project teams in conjunction with the REDi^TMRating System
- Guidelines
REDi^TMRating System: Resilience-based design Initiative for the Next Generation of Buildings: Earthquake Edition, developed for the University of British Columbia, Vancouver
- This guideline provides guidance to project teams in regards to achieving resilience and performance-based design, relative to the targets as set out in the Real Estate Framework
Guidelines for Seismic Protection of Building Contents
- This guideline is for indicative building contents recommended for restrain and methods of restraining

Seismic studies completed on the UBC Point Grey campus
- Completed Phase 2 of the Detailed Modelling phase: This evaluation is intended to improve the confidence level in predicting how these buildings will perform in an earthquake and the associated risk to the University. To date, we have completed studies in an additional nine buildings, bringing the total to 27 buildings reviewed and studied to date.

To date, we have reviewed an additional 28 buildings which were previously identified as having insufficient records available to perform accurate structural assessments on. These structural assessments are now complete and we are in the process of updating the overall campus risk level.
Completed concept feasibility studies for retrofit concepts on most of the 27 buildings

2019

ARUP report looks at a conceptual plan for the long term renewal of campus assets.
The report provides unique insights into possible structural impacts that allows UBC to consider “surgical interventions” before full building replacements.
The plan also contains a conceptual plan for the long term upgrading and renewal of highest risk campus buildings, non-structural upgrading, utilities, and various operational matters
Read the 2019 ARUP Report

2017

ARUP report on campus looks at the bigger picture
Refreshes the previous assessments based
on new methods and knowledge
Quantifies the risks to people, assets, and core functions on campus under various earthquake scenarios in explicit terms
Identifies critical vulnerabilities in buildings, utilities, and operations and proposes initial strategies for cost-effective mitigation
Read the 2017 ARUP report

2012

Follow-up study with Glotman Simpson Consulting Engineers and JM Engineering
Identifies a number of our buildings as high or very high seismic risk
Several buildings are retrofitted or replaced following this survey

1994

Comprehensive seismic assessment of the full building stock on the Vancouver campus
Some of the highest risk buildings identified at this time were seismically upgraded as part of the UBC Renew program between 2003 and 2011

Working with ARUP, a world leader in resilience

In 2016 UBC hired ARUP, a multi-national professional services company, to provide a comprehensive review to inform the best next steps for the university. The goal was to create a prioritized action plan for the buildings, utilities, and operations of our campus using the work of UBC’s preeminent seismic researchers as well as the most current thinking in seismic engineering, building resilience, and business continuity.

The the seismic resilience project team’s vision is to partner building efforts with the Emergency Management efforts of Safety & Risk Services and leading researchers at UBC to pursue the creation a disaster-resilient university, one that is able to withstand impacts of possible hazard events without harm to people, unacceptable losses to property, or interruptions to our mission.

The UBC Board of Governors approved the updated road map and vision in June 2016. In April of 2017, we provided the Board with a progress report outlining activities to date. We returned in September 2017 with a detailed report outlining a recommended approach for buildings, operations, and utilities. In 2019, we returned to the Board with a more detailed picture and a conceptual plan for the long term upgrading and renewal of highest risk campus buildings, non-structural upgrading, utilities, and various operational matters.

Read the 2019 Board Report for Seismic Resilience Plan

There has been significant progress on the majority of the key actions noted in the 2019 Seismic Resilience Plan Report to the Board of Governors, aimed to improve UBC’s seismic resiliency within its logistical and financial constraints across the short, medium and long-term planning horizons. A detailed progress update was presented to the Board of Governors in September 2022.

Read the 2022 Board Report for Seismic Resilience Plan